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Journalism continues to let humanity down as a (rightfully) protected profession that simultaneously uses that protection to operate with both impunity and irre

by 23B1 4y ago

Journalism continues to let humanity down as a (rightfully) protected profession that simultaneously uses that protection to operate with both impunity and irresponsibility. And I'm not talking about political bias (though that contributes greatly to the distrust people have in media), I'm talking about what you describe; the failure to communicate nuance, the rush to publish without a clear picture of the facts, the use of emotional manipulation to generate clicks, the oversimplification or misrepresentation of the truth. It doesn't matter when you're reporting on celebrity gossip. It matters greatly when you're reporting on things that could destroy our species.

logifail 4y ago
> It doesn't matter when you're reporting on celebrity gossip Umm, personally I find that fairly distasteful too. "Paparazzi pictures of Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman and Bridget Fonda have circulated online, feeding into an odd desire to force reclusive actors back into the spotlight"[0] Now everything is done in service of ever more clicks and hence ads, I find myself less and willing to consume traditional journalism. At all. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/apr/21/hollywood-actors-privacy-paparazzi-trend https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/apr/21/hollywood-actor...
- whimsicalism 4y ago
  Journalism has always been about ads, they just used to be bad at it.
  - cratermoon 4y ago
    It's more correct to say they could still be profitable while being bad at it. In the last 10 or so years, journalism has been captured by the dynamics of online advertising while the outlets themselves have become increasingly consolidated under profit-driven corporate masters. For a long time the newsroom, especially of TV and radio networks, was considered a cost center, but that was OK because the entertainment departments brought in the money. Now news organizations themselves are supposed to be profitable, which leads to incentives being skewed towards views and ad revenue.
  - logifail 4y ago
    > Journalism has always been about ads, they just used to be bad at it I'm not sure what definition of "bad" we'd need to use (and btw, "bad" for whom?) for that claim to be true.
specialist 4y ago
Evergreen food fights (eg bias, partisanship) serve to distract from the base truth: Ad-based biz models (corporate media) do not hold power (elites) to account. Journalist David Roberts (https://www.volts.wtf https://www.volts.wtf) does deep dives on climate crisis and renewable energy. Here he explains why he couldn't do this work as an employee of corporate media: David Roberts: The Transition to Carbon-Free Energy: A Story of Tech, Politics, & Community Jay Kapoor (VSC Ventures) podcast Apr 23rd, 2023 https://youtu.be/RTQo_TID804?t=60 https://youtu.be/RTQo_TID804?t=60 TLDR: Ads-based -> maximize audience & clicks -> publishers & editors aggressively dumb down content. Per Manufacturing Consent, Chomsky's Five Filters model of Propaganda in a nutshell.

by 23B1 4y ago

logifail 4y ago

> It doesn't matter when you're reporting on celebrity gossip Umm, personally I find that fairly distasteful too. "Paparazzi pictures of Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman and Bridget Fonda have circulated online, feeding into an odd desire to force reclusive actors back into the spotlight"[0] Now everything is done in service of ever more clicks and hence ads, I find myself less and willing to consume traditional journalism. At all. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/apr/21/hollywood-actors-privacy-paparazzi-trend https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/apr/21/hollywood-actor...

whimsicalism 4y ago
Journalism has always been about ads, they just used to be bad at it.
- cratermoon 4y ago
  It's more correct to say they could still be profitable while being bad at it. In the last 10 or so years, journalism has been captured by the dynamics of online advertising while the outlets themselves have become increasingly consolidated under profit-driven corporate masters. For a long time the newsroom, especially of TV and radio networks, was considered a cost center, but that was OK because the entertainment departments brought in the money. Now news organizations themselves are supposed to be profitable, which leads to incentives being skewed towards views and ad revenue.
- logifail 4y ago
  > Journalism has always been about ads, they just used to be bad at it I'm not sure what definition of "bad" we'd need to use (and btw, "bad" for whom?) for that claim to be true.

specialist 4y ago

Evergreen food fights (eg bias, partisanship) serve to distract from the base truth: Ad-based biz models (corporate media) do not hold power (elites) to account. Journalist David Roberts (https://www.volts.wtf https://www.volts.wtf) does deep dives on climate crisis and renewable energy. Here he explains why he couldn't do this work as an employee of corporate media: David Roberts: The Transition to Carbon-Free Energy: A Story of Tech, Politics, & Community Jay Kapoor (VSC Ventures) podcast Apr 23rd, 2023 https://youtu.be/RTQo_TID804?t=60 https://youtu.be/RTQo_TID804?t=60 TLDR: Ads-based -> maximize audience & clicks -> publishers & editors aggressively dumb down content. Per Manufacturing Consent, Chomsky's Five Filters model of Propaganda in a nutshell.